


Two for Mirth

by anomalation



Series: Magpies [2]
Category: Sense8 (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Multi, an exploration of how weird it must be to share your wife's attention with your cluster, not in an angsty way tho, still filling in paris
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-17 00:12:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15448977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anomalation/pseuds/anomalation
Summary: Now that they were all together in person, things were a little strange for Nomi. She wasn't used to sharing Amanita's attention so much. Discussions of togetherness.





	Two for Mirth

Nomi knew Amanita was going to be a handful around the other sensates. She'd planned for that, and she understood it. There were seven other voices in Nomi's head, and her fiancée wanted to know them. Plus, Neets thrived on attention. And the guaranteed attention of eight people who had some echoes of Nomi's own love for her in their heads had to be a total thrill. Honestly, Nomi liked the attention herself, most of the time. She just tried to prepare herself for it. Jealousy was not a good look.

Riley picked them up from the airport. It was a surprise, Nomi didn't feel her coming. "Sorry," Riley said when she was standing in front of them. "Blockers. We can't risk anyone I've connected with spoiling our plans."

"No worries," Nomi said. "It's good to see you." She hugged Riley, and Amanita did too. "Who's here so far? How is everyone?"

"Love the blue in your hair," Amanita told Riley. "Very on brand."

Riley smiled her silly smile, nose wrinkling a little in just the cutest way. "Thank you," she said. "I love your dreads."

"Thanks! Me too." Amanita preened a little, under the attention.

"Everyone's here," Riley said to Nomi. "We were able to get Sun on an earlier flight with that fake ID."

"How's everyone else? How's Will taking this?"

"Oh, good question," Amanita said, making a face. "He seems like he'd take this whole abduction thing badly."

Riley sighed. "He's fine," she said. "On blockers too, which is helping him manage how he's feeling. And he's a mother hen; he likes having so many chicks around."

Nomi could not empathize with that at all. She was already looking forward to this being over and going back to her apartment, but she'd never say that. "We're going to take care of this," she said to Riley, and Riley smiled again.

"It's even better to hear you say that in person," she said.

Amanita wrapped her arm around Nomi's. "And Nomi's right. We've got this."

Nomi had seen the flat through Lito’s eyes, so she knew what it looked like. Still, it was a surprise to see how large it was, and how crowded it felt with nine other people. Though on that note, Nomi thought she could probably be grateful it was only nine. Out of all of them, no one brought anyone but her and Lito, so that was something, at least. And Riley and Will took the shitty room, the one without a door. That was another thing Nomi was grateful for. And and, they were going to save Wolfgang. That was the most imortant part of this whole thing. She knew that. It was just that all of that kind of got lost in the day-to-day moments.

Like, when Nomi saw Amanita talking animatedly to Capheus and Hernando about the roles allowed to non-white people in Western media. It was awesome that Amanita was connecting with Nomi's cluster. It was just something Nomi couldn't share with her, not in the same way. And it was totally crazy to complain about that when that was basically what Amanita had been experiencing for a year. But still. It sucked.

Nomi didn't sulk. She put her head down, and did her job. Over several days, she orchestrated several raids of supplies where they got transportation and disguises. She made fake prescriptions so Kala could work her magic and make them meds, kept on top of all eight news alerts for her cluster, and even found time to put together a donations website for an LGBT charity in Chicago that Diego worked with. Keeping busy.

The kidnap mission was two days out. All the preparation was done. Neets was out with Dani and Kala for some final errand-running. And Nomi found herself seeking out company, as weird as that was.

She didn't want high-energy. It was after midnight, too, and half the cluster were early sleepers. So she went to Will and Riley.

Lito and Hernando were there too, leaning in the doorway and talking to Will. It felt weirdly like she was walking in on the grown-ups talking. Nomi felt young for just a second. "Hey," she said. "Sorry."

"Not at all," Lito said. "We were just going to bed."

That didn't seem likely. Nomi smiled kind of awkwardly at them as they left, and then looked at Will. Riley was asleep, her head in his lap. "Sorry," Nomi said again. "Did I interrupt something?"

"Shooting the shit," Will shrugged. "Hernando had been yawning for a while, it wasn't you. C'mon, sit down." She sat on the foot of their bed because although she wanted the companionship, in the moment it was feeling like a mistake. They had so little privacy already. "What's wrong?" Will asked.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Kinda," Will said, with that warm kindness of his. "Just a hunch." Riley smiled; apparently she wasn't totally asleep.

"Nothing's wrong, exactly," Nomi said. She pulled her legs in to cross them, and hung onto her ankles. It was very nice to sit here, with the two of them, not worrying about what either of them thought. She was in their heads for a year; she knew they loved her. "It's just the nerves, I think."

Will nodded. "Yeah, that's why most cops smoke," he said.

"That's why I smoke," Riley said without opening her eyes.

"I bite my nails," Nomi said. "I think that scratches the same itch." She shared an understanding look with Will.

When she looked at him, she felt something in her chest a lot like love. It felt dangerous, and not in a fun way. Like a stupid risk, bound to be disappointed. But Will loved all of them. Like, he got addicted to heroin to keep them safe. It was impossible to look him in the eyes and not feel that. He wasn’t like every other white dude. He was better.

"What?" Will said.

"What, what?" Nomi said.

"You were looking a little... intense," Will finally said.

Nomi shrugged. "I've never been around guys so much," she said. "Bug, I guess, but he doesn't count." Will exhaled a laugh, agreeing with her. "So it's weird."

"Weird to be around us?" Will repeated, pleasantly skeptical.

"Weird to be... family. With you. I mean, my dad isn't a positive male family member example," Nomi said. “And I never had brothers.”It was so freeing not to have to explain any further than that. 

"Yeah," Will nodded. "I get that. Only child and all.“ He glanced down at Riley, looked back up at Nomi. "Can I do anything about it?"

“Keep being you,” Nomi said, and pulled her knees up to her chest to hold onto them. “I don’t have a lot of good experience with men. Gotta build ‘em up.”

Will’s little smile never faded. “Definitely,” he said. “How’s your room, is it alright?”

“It’s great,” Nomi said. “Thanks. Can’t be easy to be so out in the open.”

Riley opened her eyes to smile at Nomi. The two of them looked just, totally gentle and contented. It was unusual to see it, like actually see it. They didn’t tend to visit in moments like these, with privacy being so hard to come by. “We don’t mind,” Riley said.

“We’ve been alone for too long,” Will added. Speaking from the same mind without sharing one. Nomi and Amanita did that sometimes.

“And it feels lonely,” Riley said. “Being shut off from the rest of you.” 

Nomi loved them. She didn’t even say anything, barely had begun to think it when Will held his free arm out. “Get in here.”

Nomi was surprisingly happy to crawl up the bed and lean against his side. She wasn’t that cuddly, generally. Amanita was an obvious exception. And Nomi was thinking she’d have to add her cluster to the list. Or at least Will. He had that cop thing, the stakeout stillness. The ability to just sit, and wait. It was nice.

“Is something else on your mind?” Will asked after a bit. 

"Not really," Nomi said. "It's just... people. When I've been alone in a room for a year with Amanita. I don't know, I don't think I'm a people-person."

Will nodded slowly, thinking. "We have a theory, too," he said. "About physical proximity making the connection stronger. Being in the same house with our cluster seems like the kind of thing most of the rest of our kind don't do."

"Interesting," Nomi said, her mind already racing. "It would make sense from an evolutionary standpoint. Disadvantage us when we're together so we remain apart and have the most different experiences." She needed to talk to Amanita about that, ASAP.

"Could also be how you saw Sara Patrell," Riley said.

Will pressed his lips together. "Maybe," he said. Touchy subject. "We have enough blockers," he said. "You could take them, even though you don't have to. If you want some time alone."

Alone with her thoughts, like she hadn't been for a year. It was tempting. "Maybe," she said. "Thanks."

"Course."

Sitting there next to him, there was a moment where they visited, Nomi thought. Where she was sitting up and he was leaning on her shoulder instead, despite the blockers. "We've planned it," she said.

"We have," Will agreed.

"It's not going to go wrong. We have backup plans."

"Yep."

Nomi wanted to ask why she still felt so nervous, but she knew the answer and Will did. All of them did. The silence that should've been Wolfgang's space in her head was distinct. Though, it was Wolfgang, so it probably would've been quiet most of the time anyways. Still, though.

"Well," Nomi said. "I'll let you guys sleep. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, night," Will said, and Nomi thought she heard Riley echo it sleepily as Nomi left their alcove.

The cluster was sleeping. Dani was up on the couch, texting somebody. She looked up as Nomi passed and smiled at her, and Nomi smiled back. Girly-girl with a heart made of steel; she liked Dani. And it was nice, to walk through a silent house and know it was filled with people - _her_ people. It felt like the women's shelter when they'd stayed there. Supportive.

Amanita was waiting in bed, reading something very intently on her laptop, which was wedged between her boobs and thighs. Nomi's neck twinged in sympathy. "Hey," she said. "How was it?"

"Productive. All silent on the Whispers front, too. We’re as ready as we’ve ever been.” Amanita wiggled her eyebrows. “Wanna know what I’m reading about?”

“You know I do.” Nomi crawled in bed next to her.

“So Kala was discussing how everyone has the same blockers because they’re all replicating the ones from BPO, right? That’s totally unusual, and it means there’s been no research on different dosages. She gave me her log-ins to a bunch of scientific journals, and we’ve been researching the way these things work.”

“Okay… what’s the end goal?”

“Privacy,” Amanita said definitively. “A pill to pop when you want an hour or two alone. On our honeymoon, for example,” she added and her smile grew wicked.

“Only two hours?” Nomi said with a grin of her own, and Amanita tackled her, putting her flat on the bed to hug her.


End file.
